Although this week's challenge is for the Venari Spellsmith, I decided to write about the Diemonshark since it is one of my favorite tank cards. Diemonshark is a Water splinter Melee monster that is one of the best tanks that you can have in Silver league.

Diemonshark Highlights

Although the Diemonshark isn't particularly strong at lower levels, it still has great speed, health, and armor. These are all great things to look for in a tank which is one of the most important parts of creating an unbeatable lineup.

Icon	Ability Name	Description
	Trample	When a Monster with Trample hits and kills its target, it will perform another attack on the next Monster on the enemy Team
	Enrage	Has increased Melee attack and Speed when damaged (Multiplied by x1.5 rounded up)
	Retaliate	When hit with a Melee attack, Monsters with Retaliate have a chance of attacking their attacker (50% chance of activation)

At Bronze League (Level 2), the Diemonshark is a decent tank but not particularly special. Once you reach Silver, however, you gain an additional attack as well as Enrage.

The Enrage ability paired with Trample can make Diemonshark a ridiculously strong monster. It's already fast with 4 Speed (5 when paired with Kelya) and when it becomes enraged, it will have 8 speed!

So when do I use the Diemonshark?

• Diemonshark can be used in nearly all cases
• At low mana, it can be a one man army
• At high mana, it makes an excellent tank
• The Stampede Ruleset is great since it can potentially wipe out an entire enemy squad by itself
• Any Rulesets that benefit melee monsters (Super Sneak, Weak Magic, Melee Mayhem, Equal Opportunity)

This Week's Featured Battle

In this week's featured battle, we have an Obsidian Summoner versus Kelya Frendul in a Rise of the Commons Battle!

Battle Ruleset

	Rise of the Commons	Only Common and Rare Monsters may be used in battles.
	21 Mana	This is considered a low-medium mana battle
	Active Splinters	Water, Earth, Life, and Dragon splinters are available

• Rise of the Commons
  • This Ruleset allows me to think about what my opponent CAN'T use (strong legendary and epics)
  • For example, if they use Earth, Queen Mycelia is not available so Sneak and Opportunity attacks are great against Earth
• 21 Mana
  • This is a low-medium Mana battle so expect to see a lot of small, weak monsters or one large one

Without the use of Legendary and Epic cards, you can rule out a lot of abilities that you and your opponent can use. Earlier I mentioned that without Queen Mycelia, the Earth lineups will be susceptible to Sneak and Opportunity. Water won't have Void from Oshannus, Torhilo, or Baakjira. A lot of the strong Dragon cards will be missing. With Life, Sloan is tricky to use in lower mana battles since you need good tanks in order for your Ranged attackers to do work.

My thought is to go with Water and take out my opponent's backline with Sneak and Opportunity. At this mana level, I don't expect there to be too much Magic damage so Diemonshark would be an excellent tank. If my opponent goes with Magic, they won't be able to kill Diemonshark in one round so it will be enraged!

The Lineup

Position	Card Image	Card Name	Notes
Summoner		Kelya Frendul	Water Summoner that grants a +1 Speed and +1 Armor buff to all friendly monsters
Pos 1 (tank)		Diemonshark	Excellent tank due to the high speed, high health, and high armor. Great all around card
Pos 2 (attacker)		Feasting Seaweed	Very strong Opportunity attacker that only costs 4 mana
Pos 3 (attacker)		Battering Ram	Not super strong but fairly quick. It also has Opportunity so it can soften up the enemy before the Feasting Seaweed takes it out
Pos 4 (attacker)		Pelacor Bandit	This is one of the best reward cards of this print. It's fast, can fly, packs a decent punch with Sneak and only costs 3 mana. Very good at evading attacks

Let's Battle!

• My opponent went with Obsidian which is what I expected
• It played out perfectly for me since they couldn't kill my Diemonshark quickly enough. This allowed it to become enraged and do some major damage. It was able to do 2 attacks in one round with the Trample ability
• The other downside of Earth (in modern format) is the slow speed. My Sneak and Opportunity attackers made quick work of their backline and killed the Goblin Psychic before it even got a chance to attack/heal

Did it work?

Yes! Ultimately, the Speed of my monsters is what won me the battle.

I analyzed the battle with Splintertools and was given a 100% chance of winning the battle. That is always great to see!

Final Thoughts

The Diemonshark is an excellent card at every level but becomes a whole different beast at Level 4 when it gains Enrage. At only $0.30/BCX, it is extremely affordable and should be owned and leveled up by everyone!

Thanks for reading! I hoped you enjoyed it!

Referral link : https://splinterlands.com?ref=at.bui89

If you decide to use my referral link, I'll happily send you a few cards to help you get started!